Friday, September 4, 2009

Selling Art to Pay the Bills?


A report of plunging prices of 18th and 20th century America art reflected at the sales at Christie’s and Sotheby’s auctions. It appears that a few museums are having difficulty selling off some of the acquisitions but others have been somewhat successful. This past spring Christie’s had a sale that consisted of 45 lots from U.S. institutions. Some did well and others did not.

One of the museums that did not do well at this most recent auction was the Indianapolis Museum of art. The museum had Western paintings by that failed to sell. What did sell? Montclair Art Museum and the Hirshorn Museum and Sculpture Gardens sold paintings by William James Glackens and Thomas Eakens respectively. In all, sales were not what had been predicted.

Museums don’t usually get rid of American art. These items are often buried away in the basements or some other obscure place. According to the current deaccession standards, art work can only be sold for the purpose of acquiring new work. Because there is not limit on when these new items have to be purchased the money can placed in the museum’s funds for holding and by doing so provide other financial benefits.

You can find great selection of art books, art catalogs and magazine back issues at Nella’s Books and Collectibles.


www.nellasbooksandcollectibles.ecrater.com

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